"Look a Double Rainbow" - King Street / Newtown (Mon 28 Dec 2015)

"Look a Double Rainbow" - King Street / Newtown (Mon 28 Dec 2015)

Knowing you, knowing me - Urbanbites / King Street / Newtown (Sun 29 Nov 2015)

Knowing you, knowing me - Urbanbites / King Street / Newtown (Sun 29 Nov 2015)

Up early for a big day. Decide to go get a coffee, but the local coffee shops wont be open until 8am, so decide to go up to the coffee shop you lived in for the first six months after Jenny's passing. It was frequented many times in the subsequent years and many fond memories with family, friends and mostly, myself, in my thoughts that the place nurtured. If I could write, I could write a book about the place and what I felt and experienced there. Many of the early blog posts implicitly encapsulate this, so I am glad to have made the effort.

It is over 12 months since I have been here and when I arrived just after 7 this morning, I sat and noticed the small changes that a prolonged separation facilitates and makes so obvious. I noticed the staff. Many were the same, which says a lot for the place which becomes incredibly busy later in the day and night.

I am served by a young waiter I know by face. He has been here for as long as I can remember. We don't know each others names but we know each enough to know each other even after 12 months of not seeing or even thinking each other.

You are touched when he remembers to ask before I can say what he is just about to say "large flat white?". "Thanks, that would be perfect" I said, "you remembered". He smiled and then proceeded on his way to make sure my coffee arrived to please me as best he could.

This is the second time in a week you have experienced something like this. And you wonder how and why?

You've walked through life trying your hardest not to be noticed, for that is where a shy person finds refuge and comfort. However, it's moments like this that make you realise that you do exist and in some ways touch people. Maybe it is because you touch people by just being there in the corner, trying your hardest to not be noticed ...

"Knowing you, knowing me" as the ABBA Classic goes ..

On Ordinariness - Joel Meyerowitz (Tue 25 Aug 2015)

A Pile of Rubble - King Street / Newtown (Mon 24 Aug 2015)

Joel Meyerowitz writes on Ordinariness:

the ordinariness of it all made me reach for the camera

via Contadina by Joel Meyerowitz.

Saw this a mile off and I knew there was a photo amongst it all.

On Empathy - Iain S. Thomas / Intentional Dissonance

Heart - King Street / Newtown (Mon 24 Aug 2015)

Iain S. Thomas on Empathy:

Niceness is a symptom of empathy. It means you understand how someone else feels and if you understand how someone else feels, it nearly always means you care about them and if you care about them then you’re nearly always nice to them.

via Intentional Dissonance by Iain S. Thomas.

On Street Photography - Steven Rosen and Brian Sholis (Wed 08 Oct 2014)

SMASH THEIR CAMERAS - Newtown (Aug 2014)
Steven Rosen (*) writes Street Photography (*):

The mid-20th century was when street photography became well known, thanks to photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and others. Armed with unobtrusive hand-held cameras, they rapidly snapped pictures of passersby, searching for unstudied compositions [..]

Brian Sholis (*) continues:

In the 21st century, for better or worse, there are fewer people at home during the day and we’ve offloaded a lot of that ‘eyes on the street’ to surveillance cameras,

Steven Rosen (*) summarises:

At the same time, those cameras fill many with unease.

So 21st century street photographers are dealing with techniques and issues far different from their forebears

Brian Sholis (*) concludes:

What unites them is they’re incredibly attentive and able to reveal things that we might not otherwise see because the street is such a kinetic and dynamic place

via Street Photography in the 21st Century (*) by Steven Rosen (*).

Street Portrait (*) - Piccadilly Ciricus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)

On Sharing Dreams - Do What You Love (Tue 27 May 2014)

Untitled - King Street / Newtown (Sun 25 May 2014)
Do What You Love (*) writes On Dreams (*):

Sharing your dreams (*) can be scary. It can make you feel vulnerable and afraid. But if you share them with the right people, you might just get more help and support (*) than you could have hoped for. And then maybe those dreams will actually come true…

via Why I gave a busker ten times more than I normally would (*) by Do What You Love (*).

I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)

I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)
Detail - I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)
Was focused on the cheese street art by Loyalty Royal/smc3 (*) when I took this photo. There is always something interesting on this piece of wall, which is part of the entrance to a shop. Will dig out the other one I have and put it here.

The lower photo is a crop of the original and it shows some of the detail as to what is else is happening in the scene.

The Target - The Way of the Bow / Paulo Coelho

Mod Gnome - King Street / Newtown (Fri 19 Feb 2010)
From Paulo Coelho's (*) short story, The Way of the Bow (*)..

The Target

The target is the objective to be reached.

It was chosen by the archer and though it is a long way off, we cannot blame it when we fail to hit it.

In this lies the beauty of the way of the bow: you can never excuse yourself by saying that your opponent was stronger than you.

You were the one who chose the target and you are responsible for it.

The target can be larger, smaller, to the right or the left, but you always have to stand before it, respect it and bring it closer mentally.

Only when it is at the very end of your arrow should you release the bow-string.

If you view the target as the enemy, you might well hit the target, but you will not improve anything inside yourself.

You will go through life trying only to place an arrow in the centre of a piece of paper or wood, which is absolutely pointless. And when you are with other people, you will spend your time complaining that you never do anything interesting.

That is why you must choose your target, do your best to hit it, and always regard it with respect and dignity; you need to know what it means and how much effort, training and intuition was required on your part.

When you look at the target, do not concentrate on that alone, but on everything going on around it, because the arrow, when it is shot, will encounter factors you failed to take into account, like wind, weight, distance.

You must understand the target. You need to be constantly asking yourself:

'If I am the target, where am I? How would it like to be hit, so as to give the archer the honour he deserves?'

The target only exists if the archer exists. What justifies its existence is the desire of the archer to hit it, otherwise it would be a mere inanimate object, an insignificant piece of paper or wood.

Just as the arrow seeks the target, so the target also seeks the arrow, because it is the arrow that gives meaning to its existence; it is no longer just a piece of paper; for an archer, it is the centre of the world

Burnt - King Street / Newtwon (Sun 17 Apr 2011)

Burnt - King Street / Newtwon (Sun 17 Apr 2011)
The remains of a small ticket box. A recent photo of the surrounding area is here.

Love dares you to .. - King Street / Newtown (Sun 17 Apr 2011)

And love dares you to care for/The people on the edge of the light - King Street / Newtown (Sun 17 Apr 2011)
And love dares you to change our way of/Caring about ourselves - King Street / Newtown (Sun 17 Apr 2011)

Why can't we give love
Cos love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the light
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves [..]

Under Pressure - Queen

Penguins - King Street/Newtown (Thu 04 Mar 2010)

Penguins - Detail - Newtown - Thu 04 Mar 2010 (picasa)
Penguins - Newtown - Thu 04 Mar 2010 (picasa)
From earlier in the year on the opposite wall to We Are Raw Meat. They are my favourite.

We Are Raw Meat - Newtown (13/17 Oct 2010)

There is always something new to look at when wandering around the Inner City and Newtown. Thought these go together nicely ..

We Are Raw Meat - King Street/Newtown - (Sun 17 Oct 2010)
Cat - Soudan Lane/Newtown - (Wed 13 Oct 2010)
Cat - Soudan Lane/Newtown - (Wed 13 Oct 2010)
I have seen the cat in various places - from Newtown to Enmore. This is the first to go beyond black.

The Warrior and the beginning of his struggle

At the beginning of his struggle, the warrior of light stated: 'I have dreams.'

After some years, he realises that it is actually possible to reach his goal; he knows that he will be rewarded.

At that moment, he feels sad. He knows about other people's unhappiness, about the loneliness and frustration experienced by a large section of humanity, and he does not believe that he deserves what he is about to receive.

His angel whispers: 'Give it all up.' The warrior kneels down and offers God his conquests.

That act of surrender forces the warrior to stop asking foolish questions and helps him to overcome his feelings of guilt.

From the Manual of Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho - (more here)

'I have a Dream' - King Street / Newtown - Fri 26 Feb 2010 (picasa)